Few Cinderella teams were as TV-friendly as Loyola Marymount, an 11-seed in 1990, as they averaged an other-worldly 122.4 points per game in the season prior.
The Lions were hard to predict because they routed Michigan 149-115 in the second round, before narrowly beating Alabama in a 62-60 nail-biter in the very next game.
Loyola Marymount was a team that was still in mourning due to the recent passing of Hank Gathers, its 6-foot-7 point-scoring power forward who died on the court on March 4, 1990 just months after discovering he had an abnormal heartbeat.
To celebrate his life, his teammates played the NCAA tournament wearing '44' patches — his jersey number — on their uniforms.
A friend of Gathers, Bo Kimble, stepped up and shot an opening free throw from each game left-handed just like Gathers did.
UNLV, the eventual champion, eliminated the Lions at the Elite Eight stage.
The team then retired Gathers' number.
Sources: ESPN, NCAA, Bleacher Report.